The Naked City (1948)

A step-by-step look at a murder investigation on the streets of New York.

Director:

Jules Dassin

Writers:

Albert Maltz (screenplay), Malvin Wald (screenplay)

Stars:

Barry Fitzgerald, Howard Duff, Dorothy Hart

Won 2 Oscars. Another 1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Barry Fitzgerald	...	Lt. Dan Muldoon
Howard Duff	...	Frank Niles
Dorothy Hart	...	Ruth Morrison
Don Taylor	...	Jimmy Halloran
Frank Conroy	...	Captain Donahue
Ted de Corsia	...	Willly Garzah (as Ted De Corsia)
House Jameson	...	Dr. Stoneman
Anne Sargent	...	Mrs. Halloran
Adelaide Klein	...	Mrs. Batory
Grover Burgess	...	Mr. Batory
Tom Pedi	...	Detective Perelli
Enid Markey	...	Mrs. Hylton
Mark Hellinger	...	Narrator (voice)

Storyline

Amid a semi-documentary portrait of New York and its people, Jean Dexter, an attractive blonde model, is murdered in her apartment. Homicide detectives Dan Muldoon and Jimmy Halloran investigate. Suspicion falls on various shifty characters who all prove to have some connection with a string of apartment burglaries. Then a burglar is found dead who once had an elusive partner named Willie. The climax is a very rapid manhunt sequence. Filmed entirely on location in New York City.

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Plot Keywords:

manhattan new york city | murder investigation | police detective | police procedure | murder | 

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Taglines:

Actually filmed on the sidewalks of New York!

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Film debut of Walter Burke.

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Goofs

During the end pursuit, Garzah walks past a plump, dark-haired lady in a floral dress, pushing a baby in a stroller. As Donahue pursues in a following scene, he passes the same woman, now walking without her baby carriage and her left hand bandaged.

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Quotes

[last lines]
Narrator: There are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them.

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Crazy Credits

The opening credits are spoken by producer/narrator Mark Hellinger. No credits are seen on the screen.

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Connections

Referenced in Night Court: The Computer Kid (1984)

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Soundtracks

Sobre las Olas (Over the Waves)
(1887) (uncredited)
Written by Juventino Rosas
Background music for the girls on swings

User Reviews

Taut, tense semi-documentary style with great location shooting in New York City...

THE NAKED CITY is like watching a time capsule unfold of New York City in the late '40s--the cars, the subways, the bridges, the people bustling along busy streets totally unaware of filming (scenes were shot from cars with tinted windows and two-way mirrors), and at the center of it all is a rather routine detective story. But the difference is the style that director Jules Dassin gets out of his material, giving the drama a chance to build up the proper tension before the final shootout on city streets and bridges.

BARRY FITZGERALD is the detective with the very helpful sidekick DON TAYLOR, a young police officer from Queens who helps him track down the man responsible for the death of a pretty blonde in what the tabloids called "The Bathtub Murder". Both men are excellent as they follow a batch of clues to get to the bottom of the crime. HOWARD DUFF is also excellent as a man mixed up in the robberies, with DOROTHY HART as his unsuspecting sweetheart.

TED DeCORSIA, making his film debut, is the athletic villain, working out in his small apartment when detective Taylor finds him--but soon making his escape which leads to the film's most breathtaking moments of a dazzling chase that fills the last ten minutes with high tension suspense.

The crime itself is not that interesting, but the style used to tell the tale (with a voice-over narration telling us at the conclusion that this is just one story in a city of millions) is what makes it far superior to most detective stories. That and the fact that New York City is given the spotlight for location photography that really hits the mark.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 March 1948 (USA)

Also Known As:

Homicide

Filming Locations:

Third Avenue El, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$2,400,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hellinger Productions, Mark Hellinger Productions, Universal International Pictures (UI)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1